Family reunion: Minn. father, son both get DWI in one night

ST. CLOUD, Minn. --- When a 23-year-old Burnsville, Minn., man called for a sober driver after his arrest for a DWI earlier this week in St. Cloud, Nathan Henning's father from Brooklyn Center arrived.

The Stearns County jail staff then do what they always do. They checked the driver, this time being Richard Henning, 54, with a voluntary breath test for alcohol.

The problem was he didnt’ pass -- and his alcohol level later measured at .11. Minnesota’s legal limit is .08.

When Deputy David Patterson then arrived early Monday, Jan. 8, about 2 a.m., he first told the older Henning he had to get a hotel room and he couldn’t release his son to him. But after further conversation, Henning admitted he had driven to the jail from Brooklyn Center. The deputy then conducted some standard tests and arrested him on fourth-degree DWI charges.

The father and son both spent the night together in the same jail cell, said the department.